There’s a mutually beneficial relationship between rap and EDM. This shouldn’t come as a surprise – for every “Wild For The Night” (a star rapper getting an assist from a star DJ), there’s a song like Steve Aoki’s “Pursuit of Happiness” remix, a rap song warped by a DJ to better fit dance halls, or a complete collaborative EP between established genre stars. This reality is part of the reasoning behind the Steve Aoki/Waka Flocka bromance. The two have been on tour together (including an appearance at Ultra Music Festival), recently recorded “Rage The Night Away”, and from the sounds of this interview with HipHopDX they credit each other with a lot of their respective successes.

On EDM reinvigorating Waka’s career:

Waka Flocka Flame: Honestly? Steve put life back in me musically. I was disgusted with the politics and the people in general. It wasn’t the essence of music, just the people in it.

When I got to the Electronic world, it was just like, “Fuck everything. Just let it go.” So when I let it go, I was like, “Damn! This is it.” I had so much energy and so much love for Electronic Music, that it just put a spark back into my Hip Hop.

On trap, both as an EDM and a rap term:

Waka Flocka Flame: Trap? Man, that shit is crazy. I feel like genres got they own trap. When people say, “Trap,” they mean underground. It’s like a new word for underground music. So when I hard Trap/Electronic music, I was like, “What the fuck [laughs]? What is this?” Then I heard it.

This is how I found out about it: a producer named Mayhem did a song called “Brick Squad Anthem,” and I started getting booked for EDM shows. I’m like, “What the fuck is this? This is Techno.” But it wasn’t, because the beat was harder. I was fuckin’ confused until somebody broke it down to me and said, “Bro, this is EDM. This is Trap of Electronic.” I had to get down with it.

DX: What about you, Steve? You’ve previously pointed out how Trap has different BPM levels.

Steve Aoki: Yeah, what Waka’s talking about is funny, because Trap is a Hip Hop term. Electronic producers took it, and they called their music Trap taking from that term but without any vocals…

Waka Flocka Flame: That’s the most amazing thing about it…

Steve Aoki: Right. I think it was like you said, this kind of, “What the fuck?” reaction. I could see that happening, where people would go, “Wait, there’s no rapper on this shit? It’s just samples.” But now it’s turned the corner where it’s accepted…

The interview goes on and includes more insight into the ever-growing hybrid genre.

Again, dance music getting heavily integrated into rap and pop isn’t exactly news. Ryan wrote about it several years ago, and anybody who pays attention to what’s getting fed to us through commercials will recognize the style’s popularity.

Might as well embrace it. Rap fans have expressed their disinterest in the cross-polinization, but balk when EDM takes one of Hip-Hop’s actual stars and causes him/her to ditch a winning formula. If Kendrick decides to hang up his microphone in favor of a turntable and a laptop? Yeah, that would kinda suck. But we’re talking Waka Flocka, and as fun as DuFlocka Rant 2 was for all of us, he admits to having reached something of a creative ceiling. The high-energy sound that Aoki conjures befits an emcee as raucous as Flocka.

I’d rather see him do this branching out and explore something new than tread water with more of the same. And the way things would appear to be heading, it’d be smart to get used to the thought of Waka yelling over an Aoki beat. You don’t have to like it; just don’t act like it’s ruining anything.

Join The Discussion

The beautiful thing and worst thing about ATl is they are consistently churning out new young talent unlike an NYC who hasn’t really produced any young talent aside from gunit dips since that source cover with cam, x, pun , nore etc the downside of ATl is they chew you up and spit you out Travis porter didn’t blow and migos took any juice they had Gucci turned to flocka which turned to tity boi which turned to future which turned to young thug etc

Here’s the thing… Trap is not wack at all. But it’s fully built out of samples of rappers that the white kids (not caucasian – white. I have a whole theory about this) at these EDM festivals don’t know, won’t support, and probably would have some vaguely racist assumptions about. Put the rappers back in it. With real verses. It’s just another form of hip-hop beat at that point, one with hella energy. And impact groups that may not have been exposed ordinarily.

history of Hiphop > EDM… but as a culture right now EDM > hiphop – Waka is seeing the side many won’t. EDM is safer, more fun, pays way more, and is embraced more in the world. If it makes dollars it makes sense!

Everybody that’s dismissing Waka Flocka hasn’t been paying attention. He has some of the most high energy music in the industry, mix that with EDM and it’s a match made in heaven for him and anyone he’s collabing with.
Also when Flocka came in on that Freeway/Girl Talk song, “Ain’t no telling how faaaar I’ma go, I got a karate chopper with me watch how you approach,” that shit was live as fuck

The real EDM trap originator is AraabMuzik as far as I’m concerned, his Dipset Trance Party back in like 05-06 created the sound or Rave Trap that people like Flosstradamus later picked up and ran with.

Love Trap music of both the DJ Toomp and RL Grimes variety, you don’t have to choose one over the other.